


12:02 AM

by postfixrevolution



Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Friendship, Romance, Sharing a Bed, Sleepovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-01 11:07:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20814116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/postfixrevolution/pseuds/postfixrevolution
Summary: “Back home,” Akira begins lowly, his voice just slightly rough, “I never really had this. Sleepovers. And now that I do, it’s...”“If you say something cheesy likenice, I’ll never let you live it down,” Ann interjects fondly.





	12:02 AM

**Author's Note:**

> this has been sitting in my drafts for almost a year now, so i decided to clean it up and post it! forgive any mistakes or goofs, it's quite old haha

It’s the night before Ann Takamaki’s birthday and Ryuji snores loudly, because of course he does. 

The three of them agreed to wake early to take Ann absolutely everywhere she wants to go, but the idea of waking up seems so foreign to Akira with sleep so hard to come by. While the snoring isn’t the only reason that strictly keeps Akira from going to sleep, he’s finding it hard to nonetheless. Back flat on his sleeping mat, he stares up at the wooden planks that make up his ceiling, arranged so nonsensically that he begins wondering if the ceiling was intended to be made of wood or if it was just thrown together from the mismatched scraps of whatever the rest of LeBlanc left behind. 

From the corner of his eye, he sees movement, slivers of incandescent streetlamp light peeking through his sparse curtains and highlighting the form of Ann as she turns restlessly atop his bed. Akira watches her turn again, a frustrated huff cutting through the brief silence between Ryuji’s snores. 

Akira opens his mouth, hesitating for only a moment before speaking, loud enough only to be heard between each rhythmic snore. 

“Ann?”

A beat, in which Ryuji snores again. If he listens closely enough, Morgana breathes deeply in his sleep too, not loud by any means, but present. 

“Akira?” She pauses, just as in tune with the rise and fall of their friends’ breathing as he is. “Why’re you awake?”

Akira sits up, sees Ann curled up on her side with her head resting a folded arm. His eyes flicker over to the snoring form of Ryuji, sprawled messily over his sofa, and he wonders if there’s enough scant streetlight washing over him for Ann to catch the movement. She does, and her responding laugh is stifled against the back of her hand, but what Akira can hear is as soft as the late-summer breeze that dances lazily in through his window. 

“He’s always been like that,” she whispers conspiratorially, lips twisted into a mischievous grin. “Even back in junior high. Sitting next to him in class was the _ worst_. You’re pretty lucky to have me instead,” she adds, a lighthearted mix between teasing and playfully haughty. A quiet laugh puffs past Akira’s lips as he pulls his legs up to his chest, resting a chin on his knees and staring languidly back at the blonde. The cat-like curve of her smile relaxes, and she holds his silent gaze like it’s something never worth letting go.

Ann meets him blink for blink in this regard, an easy smile settling across her features. Her breathing is quiet, softer than even Morgana’s, and there’s something in the lazy blinks of her brilliant blue eyes that has Akira convinced that she’s exactly the space between expectant and alert; there’s no innate need for an eventual reply in the patient flutter of her eyelids, nor is there any restlessness in the gentle tide of her breathing. They spend so much time talking for hours on end that Akira forgets his first real interaction with Ann was composed of a two strangers, a forgotten glass of water, and a comfortable, much needed silence. 

The comforting was all on Akira’s end that time, but in amicable quiet like this, he wonders if he just wasn’t paying enough attention back then to notice the way Ann’s presence fills the room. Even now, with the other half of their group snoring obnoxiously away, he’s rarely felt so at ease.

“Back home,” Akira begins lowly, his voic just slightly rough, “I never really had this. Sleepovers.” He bites his tongue at the urge to tack on _ Friends_, because he _ did _have those, just not the close-knit kind that he would invite over for a sleepover or moonlight as alternate-reality vigilantes with. Ann blinks at him again, curiosity blossoming across her features as she tilts her head attentively. He clears his throat. “And now that I do, it’s...”

“If you say something cheesy like _ nice_, I’ll never let you live it down,” Ann interjects fondly, the jokingly unimpressed look on her face making him snort. It’s loud enough that he glances over at Ryuji and Morgana to make sure they aren’t disturbed, only for him to return eagerly to brilliant blue eyes when he sees them still asleep. 

“I was going to say _ loud_,” Akira repartees as he scoots over toward the bed, leaning his back against the side of it. His head lolls back onto the mattress as he looks at the ceiling, an upside down image of Ann peering down at him visible at the very edges of his vision. “But also nice,” he adds with a smirk. “I don’t think I’ve ever been happier.”

Ann laughs again, an absolutely musical sound when it isn’t muffled against the back of her hand, and he can’t help but join in, discordant giggles bouncing along the wooden walls of Leblanc. A sudden groan from Ryuji immediately steals the sounds from their lips, and Ann looks between him and the blond with fingers pressed against her lips, laughter still evident in the sparkle of her eyes. Ryuji rolls over, digging himself into the corner of the sofa, and they both breathe a sigh of relief.

“Oh my god,” Ann whispers, grinning down at him incredulously. She slides off the mattress, taking the blanket with her and pulling it tightly around herself on the floor beside him. “You are _ such _a sap.”

Akira shoots her his most winning smile. “And is that a bad thing?” he asks, tossing in a playful wink. Ann rolls her eyes almost immediately, but he’s too busy beaming like a fool to feign hurt.

“Go to sleep, Akira,” she chastises, bumping his shoulder with her own. She says it, but neither of them make an effort to move. 

Akira only hums absently in reply, returning to his long-abandoned task of cataloguing the wooden boards that make up Leblanc’s ceiling. He’s found three pairs of boards that look around the same length when he hears Ann shift one more time.

“That’s not going to sleep,” she murmurs lowly. He glances at her from the side of his vision. “And... you’re right. It isn’t a bad thing,” she sighs eventually. 

Ann shoots him a sidelong glance of her own, tired eyes bright with fondness and lips pulled into gentle smile. She sneaks one arm out of her blanketed cocoon, fingers light as feathers along his jaw as she turns his face enough to press a kiss to Akira’s cheek, just above the corner of his lips. “It’s not a bad thing at all.”

Grey eyes gawk at her for a moment, unblinking and entranced by the way golden street-lamp light illuminates the curves of her features and the gentle red flush of her cheeks. Ann exhales a soft laugh, a mix between embarrassed and fond as her eyes dart sheepishly to the side. 

“You got all sappy and look what happened,” she laughs awkwardly. “I just thought it was sweet. Hearing you say how happy you were.” Ann rolls her bottom lip between her teeth, and Akira wonders if she’s going to add something else before a sigh falls off her tongue instead, eyes turning up to meet his with a tired smile. “I should sl--”

She never gets the chance to finish before Akira leans up, hand cradled against the side of her head to press her lips against hers. It’s longer than the first, but no less gentle, a small smile tugs up at her lips before she melts into the kiss, letting Akira guide her into the best angle to press himself even closer. Her fingers inch carefully up the side of his jaw to reach into his hair, curling lazily at the base of his hairline.

When they pull apart, the breathy sigh she puffs out against his lips sends pleasant tingles down his spine, and Akira is so close to pulling her back for another kiss when Ryuji snores especially loudly, turning over obnoxiously on the couch. Two pairs of eyes watch him for a moment, calculating how unlikely it would be they could feign sleep before he fully comes to. He doesn’t, though, and Akira’s eyes drift over to the clock on his desk. The display reads a bold red _ 12:02_. 

“It’s past midnight,” he notes, a wry smirk pulling up at his lips. Akira presses another quick kiss to Ann’s lips, grinning at the small whine she admits when he is too fast to pull away. “Happy birthday, Ann.”

“It’ll be much happier if you’re not asleep on your feet tomorrow when you and Ryuji take me out,” she responds teasingly, poking an accusing finger against his chest.

Akira pouts, grabbing onto her hand and pulling it into his chest. “It’s so much more comfortable with you than on that hard, lonely sleeping mat,” he whines, unable to help the shit-eating grin that embellishes it. 

Tugging her hand free, she gives him a playful push. “It’s _ your _ bed,” she reminds him. “I can sleep on the floor just fine.” He shakes his head vehemently in response, reaching over to hook his arms around her back and knees and heft her up. She throws her arms instinctively around his neck, choking out a loud squeak that has both pairs of eyes flying panickedly over to their sleeping companions. 

“Akira!” she hisses, butting her head against his chin. He hisses in response.

“Ow!” He headbutts her back, knocking his forehead lightly against hers. She swats him away. “I’m being romantic,” he protests. 

Ann rolls her eyes, a soft laugh floating past her lips. “You’re trying to get out of going to sleep,” she repartees. 

“I’ll sleep when the beautiful birthday girl does,” he states, carefully setting her down on the bed. He throws the blanket over her for good measure, wasting no time in falling down at the foot of the bed, legs hanging off the side as he stares at the ceiling. A gentle kick against his side tears his attention away. Ann is sitting up, peering over at him in amusement.

“You’re not a cat,” she tells him teasingly, holding her arms out. “There’s no need to sleep at my feet.”

Akira arches an eyebrow at her, and when she doesn’t retract the offer, he all but pounces across the mattress, sending the both of them into a flurry of giggles that he is surprised doesn’t end up waking up the room’s other two inhabitants.

“Happy now?” he asks, wrapping his arms around her waist. Ann wastes no time in pulling herself closer, burying her face into the fabric of his shirt.

“Much happier,” she hums tiredly, breath across his chest warming him from head to toe. Her sleepiness is contagious, and Akira yawns, tossing his thin blanket over the both of them.

“Happy birthday, Ann,” he murmurs again, only awake long enough to feel her nodding slightly against him. “And good night.”


End file.
